The CHIC Research Network
Contemporary and Historical Ideological Competition in World Politics

Since 2024, I have convened the Contemporary and Historical Ideological Competition in World Politics (CHIC) Research Network, with over 50 members from across 9 countries, and including representatives from academia, civil society, and politics. This network was originally founded, and funded from 2023 to 2025, by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Aims and Outputs
This network aims to further research and knowledge exchange on the ways  in which changing patterns of ideological competition shape global politics across the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries. Our network is interdisciplinary, and currently engaged in a number of collaborative research projects. Outputs will be listed here when they are released.

The CHIC Research Network aims to break novel ground in several key ways:

1. We focus attention on diverse dynamics of ideological competition, going beyond interstate competition to consider the cultural and social processes that link ideological competition at the domestic and international levels, while addressing the role of non-state actors.
2. We cross disciplinary boundaries, in particular integrating work across political science, political theory, history, sociology and psychology. 
3. We adopt a more genuinely global scope of analysis, involving experts on Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Russia, South Asia and East Asia to counteract the common overweighting of North American/European experiences. 
4. We cross theoretical orientations, including scholars from more orthodox and more critical perspectives and from academic-focused and policy-focused research.
5. We conduct this research in close conversation with stakeholders and practitioners, in particular but not limited to those based in the UK.

Events
Thus far, we have held five main events associated with the research network:

1. CHIC Workshop 1 (July 2024, King's College London, London, UK)
2. CHIC Panel at the International Studies Association Conference 2025 (March 2025, Chicago, USA)
3. CHIC Global South Seminar (April 2025, King's College London)
4. CHIC Workshop 2 (September 2025, King's College London, London, UK)
5. CHIC Workshop 3 (May 2026, King's College London, London, UK)​

We also have two forthcoming panels at international conferences:

1. 'Ideological Competition and International Disorder', British International Studies Association Conference 2026 (5 June 2026, Brighton, UK)
2. 'Ideological Faultlines and Threats to International Order(s),' American Political Studies Association Conference 2026 (3 September 2026, Boston, USA) 

Speakers at the 3rd CHIC Workshop, King's College London, May 2026

Members
The CHIC network has over 50 members, from academia, politics and civil society. Our members include:

• Dr Hillary Briffa (King's College London, UK)
• Dr Justin Casey (Swarthmore College, USA)
• Dr Precious Chatterje-Doody (Open University, UK)
• Dr Olivia Cheung (King's College London, UK)
• Dr Philip Cunliffe (University College London, UK)
• Professor Sandra Destradi (University of Freiburg, Germany)
• Dr Alexander Dukalskis (University College Dublin, Ireland)
• Dr Maísa Edwards (King's College London, UK)
• Dr Juliette Faure (University of Lille, France)
• Professor Julia Gallagher (King's College London, UK)
• Professor Mark L. Haas (Duquesne University, USA)
• Dr Marnie Howlett (University of Oxford, UK)
• Dr Jonathan Leader Maynard (King's College London, UK)
• Dr Chad Nelson (Brigham Young University, USA)
• Professor Astrid Nordin (King's College London, UK)
• Professor John M. Owen IV (University of Virginia, USA)
• Dr Özgur Özdamar (Bilkent University, Turkey)
• Dr Ljubica Spaskovska (University of Exeter, UK)
• Dr Joanna Szostek (University of Glasgow, UK)
• Professor Jonathan White (London School of Economics, UK)
• Dr Thorsten Wojczewski (Coventry University, UK)